


24. I Like You

by KaSaPe



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Advent Calendar, Affectionate Insults, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bickering, Fluff, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, minor angst in chapter 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-02 21:57:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10228364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaSaPe/pseuds/KaSaPe
Summary: “A personalized advent calendar. I’m going easy on you, you don’t even need to buy me a real present, just give me 24 things that you admire about me.”“No way,” Keith immediately shot down. He might have wanted to prove Lance wrong, but he wasn’t that desperate. If he agreed to this, then he would never hear the end of it.Lance pouted a little but ultimately relented. “Alright, okay, let’s compromise. Make it into 24 things that you like about me instead, I did just say that I’d go easy on you.”When Lance challenges Keith to make him an advent calendar with 24 things he likes about him, Keith feels ready to get a fake identity and move out of the country. Thinking that that would be a lot harder than make Lance back down though, Keith agrees on one condition: that Lance does the same thing for him.Unexpectedly, Lance agrees. After that, nothing goes as planned.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AmiLu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmiLu/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMI!! :D You are a very precious person and I'm glad you approached me after having read mmsl that one day. So when I noticed that I never wrote you something before I just... had to do it. I had to write you something. Because you deserve it ♥  
>  ~~everyone, go give her birthday wishes on[her tumblr](http://kurosakiami01.tumblr.com/), you will make an angel happy~~
> 
> *clears throat* so anyway, I know it's not the 12th yet where you are but it already is where I am so I decided to post it. I also figured you'd appreciate getting to read something fluffy before heading to bed... or when you need a break from studying... or you can save it until tomorrow, it doesn't really matter :P Whatever you decide to do, there'll be more to read on your actual birthday, I have yet to edit the second part (see how much I love you? I actually tried _editing_ this before uploading it HAH). 
> 
> Now then! Enough of me being a sappy idiot, let's move on to the boys being sappy idiots, enjoy!! :D

If Keith had to be completely honest, then he and Lance hadn’t actually hit it off like best friends usually did. When they had first met, Keith had moved into his apartment solely because of cheap rent and they hadn’t put any effort into getting to know each other. They had had a shared kitchen/living room thing and a shared bathroom, but mostly they just stuck to their rooms, keeping out of each other’s spaces. And it had been fine, they hadn’t hated each other or anything. They just hadn’t really been friends either.

Slowly though, that had changed. And then _that_ had changed again, so slowly that Keith hadn’t noticed it until it was too late.

By the time he became aware of it, he was already hopelessly in love with Lance.

~*~

“Hey Keith.”

“Hm?” Keith looked up from the book he was reading and glanced at Lance, who was frowning down at his phone. “...what is it?”

Sighing, Lance set down the phone. He dropped forward, mushing his cheek against the table and drummed against the wooden surface. “Say, what would you get Shiro for Christmas?”

Keith blinked a few times in surprise. “Did you forget about the chair?”

For the last two months, Shiro had admitted to having back pain because of the chair in his room. Hunk had immediately told that he should get himself a new one - nice, cushioned office chair - but Shiro had declined, insisting that he didn’t have enough money for that. Well, good for them at least, Keith, Hunk, Allura and Pidge had decided to throw some money together and buy him the damn office chair. They had asked Lance to join them but Lance had declined, claiming that he wanted to give Shiro something ‘personal’. Keith wasn’t sure why Lance would want to gift him something ‘personal’ when he could gift him something ‘practical’, but then again, he was Lance. Lance always did stuff like that.

Huffing, Lance made a dismissive hand motion into his direction. “As a matter of fact, _no_ , I didn’t forget. I still remember quite clearly that all of you decided to buy him something materialistic instead of something special with meaning and personal value.”

“Shiro is _literally_ suffering, he needs that chair,” Keith said, rolling his eyes. Lance just huffed again.

“You should have let Allura buy it then. She’s richer than all of us together.”

“Just because she is it doesn’t mean that we’ll make her pay for everythi-”

“No but it would be perfectly acceptable for her to buy him one Christma- wait, wait, wait, hold on, rewind, we are totally getting off topic here!” Lance sat up straight in his chair and pointed an almost accusing finger at Keith. “Now speak. What would you get Shiro?”

Sometimes, Keith really didn’t know how he could possibly like this idiot. “I don’t know. Isn’t it _your_ personalized present?”

“Yeah, but you know him best!”

“It’s your present though!” Keith insisted.

“Keith! Stop being a dick and help me out here! What should I get Shiro for Christmas?!”

Keith closed his eyes and reminded himself to stay calm. Patience yields focus. Especially with Lance. Once his brows had finally smoothed out again, he crossed his arms and shrugged, leaning back into the chair.

“It’s November still. You’ll find something.”

“Not the point, _Keith_.” Keith breathed in deeply and held the air for a few seconds before letting it out once again. It really was beyond his understanding how Lance could be so annoying sometimes. “Spill. What use do you have as his best friend if you can’t even tell me what to buy him?”

“For fucks sake - I don’t know,” he bit back. “Buy him a mug? Make a mixtape?”

For a moment Lance seemed to seriously consider his suggestions, then he pursed his lips and shook his head. “Nope. Not original enough.”

Breathe. He just had to breathe. In and out.

“A printed shirt?”

“No. No, no, no - what the fuck, that’s not something you give away on Christmas. Not to Shiro. You suck at thinking of presents,” Lance sighed. He even had the nerves to give him a bad imitation of Shiro’s disappointed look and Keith-

Keith couldn’t take it anymore. If Lance just dismissed his ideas like that, why had he asked him in the first place?!

“I _do not_ suck at it!”

“Do so!”

“Do not!”

“Do so! I bet you couldn’t make something nice and personalized if you tried,” Lance snarked. Keith was leaning over the table to stare him down as much as possible. If the table had been a little smaller, they would have probably been touching foreheads by now.

“I can _so_ do that!”

“No way.”

“Yes way!”

For a moment Lance just glared at him with narrowed eyes, then a lazy grin appeared and he settled back. “Prove it.”

“Sure,” Keith agreed readily. A personalized present? No problem. It really wasn’t that hard. He knew his friends, he could easily pick out things that fit their hobbies.

“Perfect.” Lance’s smirk made Keith grow a little wary but he wasn’t about to back down. Not when he was wearing _that look_. “Let’s see… oh, yeah, what about this: a personalized advent calendar.”

A what now.

Keith was stumped into momentary silence while Lance puffed his chest out as if he had had the greatest idea since garlic bread. Taking Keith’s muteness as a cue to continue, Lance kept talking.

“A personalized advent calendar. I’m going easy on you, you don’t even need to buy me a real present, just give me 24 things that you admire about me.”

“No way,” Keith immediately shot down. He might have wanted to prove Lance wrong, but he wasn’t that desperate. If he agreed to this, then he would never hear the end of it.

Lance pouted a little but ultimately relented. “Alright, okay, let’s compromise. Make it into 24 things that you _like_ about me instead, I did just say that I’d go easy on you.”

What the fuck. What the actual, everloving _fuck_.

Keith couldn’t be blamed for the way heat crawled up his face. There was no way that Lance knew about his crush, he had been extremely careful in hiding it - almost paranoid even - so why did he have to word it like _that_?! Lance was- Lance was going to kill him at one point or another.

“No,” Keith repeated as if on autopilot. It wasn’t his fault that his brain refused to work. That was all Lance’s doing.

Lance, obviously, didn’t seem to agree with that. He sent him the cockiest grin Keith could imagine and raised one eyebrow at him. “That’s literally the easiest personal present you could give anyone. Are you saying that you can’t even do that much?”

“No, I-” Keith had to actively stop himself from talking, otherwise he would have started stuttering. Uncrossing his arms, he balled fists at his side and cursed silently. “I can totally do that,” he then finished lamely.

God. Someone shoot him now. He couldn’t deal with the waves of embarrassment that were threatening to drown him.

“Uh-huh. Very convincing, mullet,” Lance drawled.

“Don’t call me that! And I definitely can!”

At his agitated response, Lance gave a snicker. “So what? You’re actually gonna give me a calendar with stuff that’s special about me?”

“No! I mean- that’s not-” Lance gave another snicker and Keith scowled at him. “This is stupid! I’m not doing it!”

“Oh ho, backing out now, hotshot?”

His face should _not_ get even warmer at that. Betrayal. Keith was done with today. 100%, utterly done.

“I’m only doing it if you are doing it too!” Keith yelled back.

For a moment Lance just blinked, then he shrugged and shot him a sly smirk. “Sure, why not? Let’s see who can get more creative.”

And with these words, Lance picked up his phone and moved out of the kitchen towards his own room, leaving Keith to stare after him. He had a sinking feeling that he had just made a terrible mistake. This was going to be a total disaster.

~*~

“So, what’s up?” Hunk asked casually over their calculus homework. It was Tuesday evening, a time deliberately chosen for when Lance was out at work. Keith couldn’t very well ask what he needed to know if Lance was there to overhear it.

“I… have a question,” Keith began slowly. Hunk blinked at him with an open expression.

“Yeah. I know. You said that already. You need my advice - so, what is it?”

For a while longer Keith kept awkwardly shifting around, not quite meeting Hunk’s eyes, then he breathed in deeply and decided to get it over with. The quicker, the better. Like ripping off a bandaid. Keith already knew that he wouldn’t be able to play it cool, not after all the not-so-subtle glances he had received throughout the day, so he might as well take the most direct approach.

“Um, say, if someone asks you to make them a… a personalized advent calendar…” Hunk’s eyebrows wandered up his forehead and Keith considered bolting right then and there. He wasn’t a quitter though. Has never been. So onwards it was. “And. Um. They ask you to… basically list one reason why you like them each day… uh, what would you do then?”

“What would I do?” Hunk repeated, eyes still trained onto Keith. Keith dug his fingers into his jacket and looked away.

“Y-yeah… hypothetically speaking.”

“Hypothetically.”

“Yeah. All completely hypothetical. Because… that’s the kind of hypothetical thing you think about… all day…” Oh wow. He was fucking this up even more than he had thought was possible. And that was to say something, he already knew how bad he was at lying.

Hunk caught on right away, but thankfully didn’t call him out on it. “Well… _hypothetically_ speaking I’d think about why your friend would ask something like that of you. Like… maybe they need a little cheering up. Or validation. Or maybe they want to get closer to you.”

Keith couldn’t stop a scoff from escaping. “Yeah. No. I’m pretty sure it’s not that. It’s more likely that they’re just making fun of me.”

“Why would you say that?” Hunk asked with a light frown. Keith rolled his eyes and glared at him.

“I just _know_. Trust me. His smirk said it all. He’s planning something, I know it.”

A lightbulb seemed to appear over Hunk’s head and Keith had to restrain himself from slamming his own head onto the table. Oh well. Hunk would have probably figured it out sooner or later anyway. Lance had said that he was also going to make a calendar for Keith as well, their entire friend group would probably know about their newest competition in a few days.

“Well,” Hunk began, a badly disguised grin on his face, “that might be the case, but you can’t know for sure. I’d be honest in the compliments-”

“He said ‘who could be more creative’!” Keith burst out. The force behind his words made Hunk lean back a little, but he soon recovered and shrugged.

“So what? Tell him all the creative things that are cool about him. Like how he totally helps you when you need it, how he makes people feel included, how he-”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Keith stated harshly and slapped a hand over his face. Hopefully it looked more like exasperation and less like a bad attempt to cover up his blush. “I get it. Heartfelt compliments. I can do that.”

Hunk beamed. Keith wondered just when his life had become such a mess.

(Probably from the moment on Lance had decided to befriend him.)

~*~

“-and then he said ‘sure, why not? Let’s see who can get more creative.’ Like it was no big deal. _Let’s see who can get more creative_ , Shiro,” Keith felt his face scrunching up and protectively crossed his arms over his chest. He still couldn’t quite believe it. He needed an outlet, somewhere to take his frustrations to. And some new advice, because it turned out ‘just give honest compliments’ was a lot harder than it sounded like.

So Shiro it was. If there was one person Keith could always count on, it was Shiro.

“So… what you are saying is, is that Lance wants you to explain to him what you like about him in an advent calendar,” Shiro said slowly.

“Yes.”

“And he is also going to make you an advent calendar where he explains to you why he likes you.”

“...yes.” Keith could feel himself getting fidgety again and was thankful for Shiro’s grounding hand on his shoulder. They were sitting on the old, worn out couch in Shiro’s apartment, the TV still on but long forgotten. Sighing, Keith let his defensive posture fall away and rested his elbows on his knees. “Hunk told me to be honest about my compliments. But this is _Lance_ , what if he is going to make fun of me for that?”

Yeah, the more he thought about it, the less of a good idea it became. That was a definite no to heartfelt compliments.

“I doubt that he would make fun of you,” Shiro said after a while. “Lance can be a little… much at times, but as far as I know you don’t usually compliment each other.”

“Exactly. Which is why it is such a big problem.” At that Shiro’s hand dropped away. Keith almost mourned its loss, he felt as if he had just lost half of his self-confidence as well.

“No. Which is what makes this request so special. You know him, you know that he covers up his emotions with jokes and challenges.”

Keith kept quiet. It wasn’t as if Shiro was wrong; but he couldn’t say that he was entirely right either. Lance was open, if you really paid attention to him. Something always betrayed his real feelings. And back in the kitchen there had been nothing but that cocky smirk.

“Besides,” Shiro said, “I know that you’ve been wanting to confess to him for a while now. Don’t you think that this might be the perfect opportunity for you?”

Shiro hadn’t even finished his sentence yet when Keith’s body had gone completely rigid. “No. No way. Compliments are already bad enough, I’m not going to-”

“Keith,” Shiro interrupted softly. As patient as ever. Keith took a moment to breathe and loosen his shoulders, then he nodded at him to continue. After a few seconds, Shiro complied. “Lance could have picked anything for your… gift choosing challenge. But he decided that he wanted an advent calendar with compliments from you. I know that you will absolutely deny it if I tell you that Lance gives you the same looks as you give him-” Keith scoffed a little at that, damn right he would deny that, Shiro was just too much of a good person, he was projecting something onto Lance that wasn’t there because he wanted to see Keith happy, “-but this is a chance as good as any.”

“As good as any? Shiro, if I decide to do this I’ll have to confess to him on _Christmas Eve_ -”

“-which you can do via the advent calendar,” Shiro finished smoothly. Keith got the message and let him talk for now. “It would be the perfect day for that. It wouldn’t be on the 25th, so no one’s actual Christmas Day would get ruined if he rejects you. In fact, assuming that he’s going to open it first thing in the morning, he might even completely forget about it through dinner on the 24th.”

Keith smiled ironically and let out a self-deprecating huff. “Already thinking about the worst possible outcome, huh?” It got him an amused laugh and light shove to the shoulder.

“I’m not. I’m actually pretty sure that it’s gonna work out just fine and you’ll have a new boyfriend for Christmas, but I know that you are a pessimist like that.”

“You have no right to say that. I heard you musing today about how much sleep your profs still have to take away from you in order to make you enter a sleep-induced coma.”

A dreamy sigh. “Finally I will be able to rest.”

Keith laughed and elbowed him, allowing Shiro to distract him from the topic at hand. Besides, he already knew what he would do. Shiro just had a way to make even the stupidest ideas sound perfectly reasonable… so much for getting out of this unscathed.

It didn’t matter anymore. Keith had made a decision. And he would pull through.

~*~

Writing the little slips of paper was simultaneously the easiest and hardest thing to do, ever.

Find things he liked about Lance? Easy.

Find things he liked about Lance that wouldn’t make him sound like an absolutely love-stricken idiot? _Impossible_.

Keith didn’t let that deter him though. He was a man on a mission, he had something to prove.

...so, what was the first thing he had noticed that he actually liked about Lance?

 

* * *

 

It had been a Wednesday, meaning that Lance and Keith had a free period together. They usually didn’t do much: just go to the library and try to get some extra studying in. Keith liked the library, it was quiet in there. The desks also had more space than the one in his room, making cross-referencing from different books decidedly easier than at home.

That day had been a really nice day though. The first day of spring, if you so want. Lance had been in an extraordinarily good mood so when he had asked Keith to just get a coffee and chill at the park a little off campus for a bit, he hadn’t been able to say no. They had strolled leisurely towards the one good coffee shop they knew about, breathing in the fresh, warm air and bickered about something meaningless that Keith couldn’t even remember anymore.

It had been then that Lance had noticed something small and weird looking curled up between the bushes.

“Hey, Keith.”

“Hm?” Keith hadn’t really paid attention to Lance, he had been focused on counting all the budding flowers he could find. He had been somewhere around forty, a number high enough to make him smile.

“What is this?”

“What is what?” Keith turned to find Lance pointing at a thing. It seemed fluffy but a little dirty, almost like a lost stuffed animal. Giving him a clueless look, he approached it and shoved the leaves out of the way to get a better look.

The moment sunlight hit it, Lance gasped. “Oh my god, it’s a squirrel! Why isn’t it moving?”

“I’m… not sure,” Keith said. He reached out to poke it, but Lance’s hand batted his away before he could touch it.

“Nu-uh, no touchy until we find out what’s wrong with it. Hand me that stick over there.” Reluctantly Keith handed him the stick. Lance was so annoying. What could the squirrel do to him? _Bite him_? Please. He was still sulking when Lance managed to turn the poor animal around, exposing an eye that was almost swollen shut, one leg weakly twitching towards the stick.

“Oh shit,” Lance breathed then, throwing the stick aside to crouch down and scoop the squirrel up. So much for ‘no touchy’. “It’s hurt. Or sick? I’m not sure. Can we take a squirrel to the vet?”

The look of genuine worry on his face had made Keith feel bad about still being hung up on something as stupid as Lance not listening to his own advice. The animal was hurt. It wasn’t that Keith had a personal attachment to it, but he didn’t exactly want to leave it suffering either. Pulling out his phone, he opened google maps. “Yeah, probably. I mean, it’s an animal, right? Let me look up where to take it.”

Lance had kept quiet, frowning down at the small, fluffy thing in his hands. He almost seemed to feel the squirrely pain, if his eyes were any indication on that. Keith had caught himself staring, wondering why on earth Lance cared so much, but he shook himself out of his stupor before Lance could notice. They had a squirrel to save, as stupid as that might sound.

“Okay, so, there is a vet around 25 minutes away from here,” Keith said finally, squinting at his screen. “If we take my bike we could probably make it in 15. We’d still need to pay for it though-”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s just go already, I’ll pay,” Lance interrupted. He cradled the squirrel closer and pointed his head towards the campus’ parking lot where Keith had put his bike. “Come on, what are you waiting for?”

“Are we seriously doing this?” Keith asked, more curious than anything. He gulped his coffee down and threw the empty cup into the nearest trashcan, increasing his tempo to catch up to Lance. Lance just scoffed and sent Keith a flat look.

“Well, duh. Do you want to leave it to die or something?”

“No! I was just-” Unsure how to finish that sentence, Keith sighed and shook his head. “Whatever. Put it in your jacket, you can’t hold it in your hands for the ride.”

Lance’s resulting smile had been brighter than the sun. Keith had almost tripped over himself in an attempt to breathe and walk at the same time. What the hell. Lance should warn him before he did something like that, Keith would have gotten his sunglasses out.

But despite his less than flattering thoughts, there was one thing he couldn’t deny: something about Lance’s honest smile just got to him. It made him feel warm and happy, almost giddy with excitement that he was the source of it.

Back then, Keith had dismissed it. He had gotten onto his bike, shoved Lance’s helmet at him, put his own on and drove. They had made it to the vet within 16 minutes, the squirrel safely stored away in the pocket of Lance’s jacket. When they had arrived, they had gotten redirected to a wildlife rehabilitation center that was another 15 minute drive away. When they had finally reached their destination, Lance had tried to pay for everything by himself - Keith hadn’t let him. They were both poor college students and they were sharing an apartment, he had to make sure that Lance would still be able to pay his share for their rent.

Yeah. That was the whole reason. The other grateful smile that Lance had given him hadn’t played into it at all.

Somehow, the squirrel had made it. They had both been there when it was set it free, watching it climb up a tree and disappear somewhere between the leaves. It had been a warm day then, too, the temperature just perfect to wear a short-sleeved shirt without being too cold or too hot. Lance had joked that it was an emotional moment, they were saying farewell to their child; Keith had told him that it was less of a farewell and more of a temporary goodbye. The squirrel would probably come back to check on Lance, it absolutely adored him.

This time, Lance’s resulting smile had been absolutely _blinding_. Not even his sunglasses could have helped Keith anymore.

 

* * *

 

Keith’s hand moved on its own.

  1. _I like your honest smile_
  2. _I like your compassion for animals_



More memories appeared.

 

* * *

 

Not even a week after the squirrel adventure, Lance had decided that Keith now belonged to his close circle of friends. Keith couldn’t deny how happy that had made him - but the invitation to Pidge’s birthday party had still taken him by surprise.

Because, you see, Lance already knew Shiro. Keith was close to him, really close, they were practically family at this point; Shiro spent a lot of time in their apartment. However, Keith didn’t know Lance’s friends. Or at least not nearly as well as Lance knew his.

So yeah, the birthday party invitation had been a surprise. It hadn’t even come from Pidge herself, Lance had just decided that Keith should tag along. Keith had protested, he definitely wasn’t the kind of guy to show up uninvited, but Lance had heard none of it. He had borderline forced him into his jacket, out of the door and onto his bike to make him drive to Pidge’s dorm.

Yeah, that’s right. They had taken his bike. He couldn’t even rely on alcohol to make himself less tense now.

They arrived at the party not long after, Lance ditching him to quickly make his way over to a small shop “ _for important reasons Keith, you’ll see later, go ahead, I’ll be there in a minute_ ”. Keith hadn’t wanted to go to the party, much less arrive alone, but there wasn’t much else he could have done if he didn’t want Lance to get angry again. And he definitely didn’t want that. Their almost-fight that resulted in him coming here had already been enough for the day, thank you very much.

So Keith had made his way up towards the second floor, knocking on door 203. Pidge was the one to greet him, smiling politely and almost looking a little confused, as if she couldn’t quite remember who he was. Oh, great. This was why he hadn’t wanted to come here on his own, he should have just waited in the hallway for Lance to arrive.

“Um. Hi, I’m Keith. Lance brought me here, he’s just… around the corner. He should be here soon, he wanted to buy something…” He trailed off awkwardly, hoping that that was enough. Not cool. He would never allow Lance to convince him to do something like this ever again.

Pidge, for her part, obviously hadn’t expected to see him here. Her large eyes blinked rapidly before she grinned and opened the door a little further.

“Keith! How were midterms for you?”

“Um. Good, mostly,” he answered as he stepped inside Pidge’s dorm. There were already a few people inside: he recognized Hunk and Allura as two of Lance’s friends but he wasn’t quite sure who the other people were. There were chips and snacks scattered everywhere, some weird mix of techno-pop music played at a thankfully still normal volume and everyone seemed to have a good time so far.

There were also presents.

Keith didn’t have one.

Great. Just perfect.

“Happy birthday,” he blurted, turning towards Pidge to give her an apologetic look. Or at least he tried to, he felt as if it was too awkward and panicked for that. Pidge grinned and closed the door behind her.

“Thanks! My birthday was two days ago but I guess we didn’t see each other for quite a while, huh?”

“Yeah. Uh, happy belated birthday then.”

Another grin from Pidge. “Thanks!”

And then awkward silence surrounded them.

Keith really didn’t know what to do with himself. He desperately wished Lance was here.

“...do you want anything to drink? I don’t really like it all that much, it tastes like shit, but Rolo brought some beer,” Pidge offered. Keith cursed Lance for making him take his bike but shook his head.

“I’m driving today.”

“Oh. Cool.”

“Yeah.”

Just when Keith had really had enough, he was about to give a shitty excuse and leave, there was a knock on the door. Pidge practically jumped at it, Keith himself hoping with every fibre of his being that it was Lance on the other side. If it wasn’t, then he would leave. No point in prolonging this torture.

Pidge hadn’t even opened the door all the way yet when a voice carried inside. “Guess who’s here to save the party?”

Honestly, the amount of relief Keith felt was almost ridiculous. It was as if he could suddenly breathe again, his heart beating easier than before. All was good now. Lance had promised not to leave him today until Keith found someone else to talk to.

“Took you long enough. And you could have told me that Keith was coming!” Despite her harsh tone, she immediately tugged Lance inside, apparently just as relieved as Keith that he was finally here.

Lance raised an eyebrow at her and glanced over at Keith. “Why? Is there a problem?”

“Not a problem, I just like being prepared,” she grumbled.

“Hah, still traumatized by what happened in the lab?” Lance’s smirk was downright devilish and Pidge glared at him. Hard.

“We will not speak of that again. You know how long it took me to correct the damage, it wasn’t funny.”

Lance laughed though, and then Pidge grinned too, and suddenly the entire room crowded around them.

“What’s going on? What’s so funny?” Allura wanted to know.

“The lab thing. Pidge still has war flashbacks towards the hours she invested after someone snuck her the USB-stick with the wrong program.”

Hunk lit up at that, as if he was recalling one of the most beautiful moments of his life. “Oh man, that was so funny though. Sorry, Pidge. I just don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone swear as much as you did there. And as creatively.”

“Don’t forget the amount of death threats. ‘The orange Pringles man better put as much care into his self-defense skills as into his awful moustache or he’ll find that the hospital will need a fucking new program as well to keep up with all his future accidents’, was it?” Lance grinned.

Everyone laughed. It was nice, Keith supposed.

If only he didn’t feel so horribly out of place.

The moment he drew his shoulders up and crossed his arms in front of his chest, Lance’s gaze fell onto him. His already mischievous grin turned even worse and he raised the plastic bag in his left hand. Keith knew that look, he was up to no good. Slowly unfurling his arms, he got into a defensive stance.

“Catch!” Lance called and threw the thing at him. Keith caught it, somehow managing not to spill anything. “Nice one, mullet.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Keith opened the bag to take a look at what was inside. It hadn’t been heavy at all, but it had made a lot of noise…

“I brought glow sticks! As tradition calls for.” The entire room erupted into cheers as Keith pulled the first pack of glow sticks out. Lance was immediately there, taking it from his hands and shaking it in front of his face. “What do you say? Are you in?”

“In what?” Keith asked, feeling himself relax the more time he spent around Lance’s stupid face.

“Our competition. Everyone gets a glow stick at the beginning of the party, then we twist it all the way and the one whose stick is alight for the longest time wins and gets to have the entire second back of glow sticks for themselves.”

Keith’s lips twitched when he caught sight of the twinkle in Lance’s eyes. “Something tells me that you are weirdly good at this game.”

“The unbeaten champion,” Lance declared proudly. He shook the packet again and punched Keith’s shoulder. “So, you in? I bet you’re horrible at this.”

“I bet I can beat you,” Keith automatically replied. The room responded with ‘oh’s and ‘ah’s, Pidge loudly declaring her allegiance to Keith.

“Someone has to beat his arrogant ass,” she grinned. Keith nodded solemnly and bumped his fist against hers.

“Let’s do this.”

“Rude! I should have known that this would happen as soon as I brought you here, you two are the evilest friends that I have. I can’t believe that you’d do this to me,” Lance said. He was frowning and had his body angled away from them, but his eyes were laughing. He was happy. Keith was happy.

He didn’t feel out of place anymore.

 

* * *

 

More memories. Memories over memories.

  1. _I like your obsession with glow sticks_
  2. _I like your ability to dispel all awkwardness_
  3. _I like the way you never leave anyone feel left out_



It was so easy, suddenly. Keith wasn’t sure whether he would manage to keep his list limited to 24 things.

 

* * *

 

It had taken Keith a long, long time to actually confront Lance about all the beauty products in the bath.

Lance had been the one that had already lived in the apartment before Keith had moved in. Apparently his roommate had been a recent graduate, leaving him to find someone else to share the apartment with. Shiro had helped Keith move in; he had been a big help with carrying the boxes up to the third floor. Because who needs a functioning elevator, right?

Anyway. The point was, Shiro had been there that day. So when Keith had stepped into the bathroom, his eyebrows wandering all the way up his forehead when he caught sight of the cluttered counter, Shiro had been there to stop him from throwing it all into the trash. There had been so many products that Keith had had a hard time finding space for his _toothbrush_ , forget about a hairbrush or deodorant.

So instead of screaming at Lance or shoving his stuff aside, Keith had made do with storing his stuff in his bedroom, always bringing it with him when he needed to visit the bathroom. It wasn’t ideal but what could he do? Touching Lance’s stuff was a no. Screaming at Lance was also a no. A civilized conversation might have been the best solution but Keith didn’t feel that he would be able to do that whenever he exited the bathroom - he was way too pissed off then. Unfortunately, since Lance and him didn’t really hang out together, he forgot about it during the times when he wasn’t pissed off.

Keith wasn’t quite sure when he had reached the point where he just sighed at having to place his stuff on the toilet lid, but he welcomed it. It was better than being angry all the time. He was used to it by now. It was just one of the things that came with sharing a living space with Lance.

The confrontation took place much later and had honestly been an accident. At that point Keith hadn’t minded carrying his stuff around anymore.

“Shoes in the entry hall,” Lance had greeted Keith without looking up from his phone, apparently having heard the noise they made on the floor. Keith had just grunted in reply and ignored him. He had had an exhausting day and he was hungry, he would take them off later.

When Keith hadn’t immediately made his way back to the door, Lance had lifted his face with a frown. “Come on, dude. It’s my turn to clean the kitchen and I’m not gonna wipe it three times just because you can’t be bothered to take your shoes off.”

Soon. He needed something to drink first.

Getting the bottle of orange juice out of the fridge, he kept ignoring Lance and searched for a glass instead. Honestly, Lance was lucky he found one, if he hadn’t he would have just drank out of the bottle instead. Keith really couldn’t be damned to care today.

“Keith!” Lance shrieked. “Take your shoes off! Come on, don’t be an ass!”

“Fine,” Keith gritted out once his glass was empty. Lance’s voice had taken on that annoying tone that made him want to fight him. But instead of giving in to the bad-day induced feelings, he put the juice carton back into the fridge and made his way into the entry hall.

“That’s not where the juice goes and you know it,” Lance’s voice called after him. The annoying tone was gone though, so Keith could feel a flicker of amusement in himself as he kicked his shoes off.

“For someone that cares so much about where your stuff goes you sure don’t care about your cosmetics,” he called back.

There was a beat of silence. Keith used it to open the fridge once more, trying to find something to eat. Didn’t they still have some of that pudding thing that Lance made last time? Flan?

“What do you mean?” Lance finally asked. Keith blinked a little at his dubious tone, then gave him a confused look.

“Your stuff takes up the entire counter in the bath. I don’t even have enough space to keep my brush there,” he answered honestly.

For a moment, a look of horror descended onto Lance’s face, then it was gone again in an instant. He leaned back against the backrest of his chair and scoffed. “Well, you obviously don’t have a problem with not using it at all, so I don’t see what I’m doing wrong.”

“I _am_ using my brush!”

“Are not. Did you even look in the mirror today?”

Lance was teasing, Keith knew. Still, he couldn’t help but reach self-consciously for his hair. “That’s not my fault. The wind always messes it up.”

“Uh-huh,” Lance said, obviously unconvinced. His hunger forgotten for now, Keith narrowed his eyes at him and crossed his arms.

“It’s true.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Lance!”

“Yep, yep. Totally true.”

And that was that. The conversation had drifted off after that, to topics like their classes, profs and work. Keith had honestly forgotten that the entire thing ever happened until he went to the bathroom that evening and found a small but clean spot on the counter, big enough for all of his things and more. He had honestly no idea how Lance had managed to rearrange all his stuff so that it didn’t need as much space anymore, but he had obviously put a lot of effort into it.

A warm feeling had spread through his chest. He hadn’t realized it back then, but it might have been the moment he fell in love with Lance. It might. Looking back, there were so many instances where he hadn’t realized his feelings that it was impossible to pin down the exact moment.

That night had been the first night he had left his stuff in the bathroom. It had felt like he really was settling into a life with Lance; they were living _with_ each other now, not just next to each other.

It had felt amazing.

 

* * *

 

  1. _I like how you are always listening, even if you pretend not to_
  2. _I like how you are trying (and failing) to stop cluttering the bathroom with your cosmetics_



 

* * *

 

 **[from: Lance] [2:44pm]** heya keith

 **[from: Lance] [2:44pm]** i can’t find the aspirin where’d you put it

Keith frowned down at his phone. It was almost 3pm, what could Lance possibly need it for?

**[to: Lance] [2:46pm]** I don’t know

**[to: Lance] [2:46pm]** You’re the one with the hangovers usually

**[to: Lance] [2:47pm]** Did you get drunk? I thought you were studying yesterday

Yesterday. And the day before yesterday. And the day before that day. And the day before- the buzzing of a new message ripped Keith out of his thoughts.

 **[from: Lance] [2:47pm]** nah just a small headache

 **[from: Lance] [2:48pm]** nvmnd not important

A headache? It was in the middle of summer and Lance was usually in perfect health, how could he possibly-

Something in Keith’s brain clicked. Finals were approaching, he had caught Lance studying up until 3am just yesterday. For all his easygoing attitude, Lance had always been serious about his studies.

Lance was serious about a lot of things actually. College. Keeping the apartment clean. Protecting and respecting the people he cared about. Making sure to talk to his family as often as possible.

That fucking idiot had probably overworked himself.

Sighing to himself, Keith gathered his things together. Class was almost over anyway, he might as well head out a little earlier. His prof was chill enough with it. Giving him a nod, Keith made his way out of the classroom and into the floor, already mapping out the way to the closest pharmacy. There was one a few streets down the coffee shop that Lance worked at… and if he wasn’t completely mistaken there was also that shop that sold those stupid candies that Lance so adored. Wonka Nerds. The rainbow pack. Lance loved to eat all of the different flavors at once when Keith could hardly stand the sour apple one, the one that easily qualified as the most tasty.

 **[to: Lance] [3:02pm]** I’m getting new medicine right now be there in 30

Keith shoved his phone back into his pocket. He already knew what Lance would text him back - probably a joke about how much Keith cared for him or trying to downplay his headache. They had been living together for almost a year now, Keith knew how to see through him.

Medicine it was. And those disgusting sweets that would make Lance’s exhausted face light up.

 

* * *

 

  1. _I like your how determined and dedicated you can be_
  2. _I like your awful taste in sweets_



 

* * *

 

Keith honestly didn’t remember how it started. All he knew was that Thursdays were days with Serious Business.

Namely: being home before Lance.

Pidge had dubbed it the ‘Thursday Running’ and Keith couldn’t exactly disagree with that name. It was exactly what happened - as soon as classes were over, Keith bolted through the door and sprinted the entire way from campus to their apartment. It wasn’t that far, around 15 minutes by foot at a normal pace, but since he had to get there _as fast as humanly possible_ it always left him out of breath. Lance was doing the same thing from the other side of the campus and their race was usually quite evenly matched.

Quite. Overall, Keith won more often than Lance did. But Lance had been catching up lately and Keith had a title to defend so he couldn’t possibly waste another second in the classroom.

Sadly, his professor didn’t seem to care about the urgency of the situation. She called Keith back, a proud smile on her face as she told him that she had loved his essay. Keith just nodded and nodded, not really listening either way. He had done a good job, that’s all he needed to know. His eyes were drawn to the clock where he could see the second hand ticking away.

One minute.

One and a half-

“Look, professor,” Keith interrupted her. He held his hands up to show that he meant no harm and kept talking. “I’d really love to hear about that in more detail but I’m kind of in a hurry today. Maybe tomorrow?”

A little surprised, his professor blinked at him but finally gave a nod and a smile. “Yes, I understand. I could also send a mail if that would be more-”

“That’d be great too. I really gotta go now though,” Keith said. He slowly inched backwards, waiting until she nodded again and then he took off. She had probably wanted to say something more, but Keith didn’t really care enough to stay.

Two minutes and fifteen seconds. He had to run extremely fast if he still wanted to arrive before Lance.

Jumping over the railing of the stairs and managing to skip around half of them, he gripped his backpack tighter. Shit, he had carried his astronomy textbook with him, that one weighed a _lot_. It would probably slow him down-

Keith exited the building and started towards the main street.

Still. He would do this. He was Keith and Keith was never one to back down from a challenge.

All in all it took him six minutes to reach their apartment, a new record for him. He was pretty sure that his heart couldn’t possibly beat any faster and he was literally wheezing for air, but there was no Lance in sight. He had totally managed to-

Before Keith could finish that train of thought, Lance jumped out of the shadow of their closed door and cockily leaned against it. “Finally decided to show up, huh, mullet?”

If only Keith could answer him. “Shut-” _wheeze_ “-shut up!” He almost regretted getting those words out, it made him even more desperate for air. Throwing his backpack on the ground, he leaned against the cool wall of the apartment building and leaned his head back. Lance was laughing and saying something but Keith didn’t pay attention to him, he focused on calming his heartrate down. He was in good shape; luckily it didn’t take him all that long.

As soon as he straightened himself and opened his eyes again, he was met by a smirking Lance.

“Welcome back to the mortal plane, what’s gotten you so out of breath today? You sounded like you were about to die.”

“I got held up by my professor,” Keith admitted with minimal pauses for air. Lance just kept observing him for a while, then his confident grin took over his face and he casually knocked against their door.

“So what you’re saying is that I’m the winner.”

“I got held up.”

“I was still the first one here,” Lance sing-songed. Keith scowled.

“You’re not inside yet. You haven’t won yet.”

At that, Lance’s cheeks grew slightly pink and he turned his head away. “Um, yeah, about that…”

Ah.

Keith felt his own smirk appear and he reached into his pockets to pull out his keys. “You lost them again, didn’t you?” he quipped.

Because that was a thing. No matter what Lance did, he seemed to lose his keys at least once a month. Keith had been confused as to how that could be, especially with someone that was as organized as Lance was, but luck just didn’t seem to be on his side whenever keys were concerned.

“There is a hole in my pocket! It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t my fault!” Lance complained, reaching into the pocket of his jacket to stick his finger through the hole. Raising it and the entire jacket with it, he wiggled it around, giving Keith the strange urge to grab it to keep it still. “See? I totally won today, the key thing gives me an unfair disadvantage in The Running.”

Keith hummed noncommittally, turning towards the door to open it. The moment he inserted the key Lance pressed up against his side, body strung with tension as he prepared himself to push Keith aside and enter the apartment first.

That wasn’t gonna happen though. Keith had the upper hand here and he would be damned if he let that go to waste.

Slowly, he turned the key around. When he felt the last bit of resistance, he paused for a moment - and then he turned it all at once, throwing himself forward. Lance was right beside him though, one hand fisted into his jacket, hips pushing against his own and they crashed to the floor together. It was a mess, Keith couldn’t really see with his hair draping over his eyes and Lance’s elbow digging into his cheek, but he was laughing. And Lance was laughing too, he could feel the vibrations from his chest against his own.

“I totally won!” Lance declared not even a second later. Keith laughed and pushed him away, disentangling their limbs to sit up properly. He kind of mourned the loss of Lance pressed up against him but they were having a serious competition here and he couldn’t show any weakness.

“You didn’t. You were on top of me!”

“My right arm was under you though.”

“Yeah, but _you_ were on top of me. A hand doesn’t really count, I was in here first.”

Lance snorted and sat up himself, patting his hair down. Keith almost asked him to let it stay like it was, it looked adorable on him, but he didn’t. Remember, no weaknesses. He was already bending that rule enough with how he couldn’t stop staring at Lance’s flushed cheeks and twinkling eyes.

“Well, if we are going to point out stuff that doesn’t really count then I totally won because I was here a full minute before you arrived. It’s _obviously_ my win.”

“It’s not!” Honestly, Keith had made a new record, if he hadn’t gotten held up he would have wiped the dust with him. “Today is my victory!”

“So not!”

“So was!”

For a full three seconds they stared at each other with narrowed eyes, then they both broke out into a smile at the same time. “Draw? And truce?” Lance asked, sticking his hand out. Keith couldn’t help but be charmed by the unfiltered happiness that radiated out from him.

“Draw and truce,” he agreed, shaking his hand. Lance got back onto his feet, using his grip on Keith’s hand to pull him up as well before letting go. A fact that Keith really shouldn’t have noticed as much as he had, now that he thought about it.

“You should go get your bag,” Lance said then, pointing his thumb towards the hall. Keith sighed but agreed. The backpack was right where he had left it, not even two feet away from their door, but he had fully expected Lance to close the door behind him to mess with him. It appeared that he had been serious about the truce thing though, he had left it open and even put Keith’s keys on the counter where they belonged.

Deciding to pay him back the favor, Keith took his shoes off and neatly placed them next to Lance’s.

“Oh!” Lance said suddenly, drawing Keith’s attention onto him.

“What?” He was smirking down at Keith, chin pointing at his feet.

“You are wearing mismatched socks again. How many times did I tell you to just roll them up and put them together? You’re looking ridiculous!”

“It’s not like anyone would see them anyway,” Keith grumbled and turned his head towards the ground again. He let his hair fall in front of his face to hide his smile. The first time might have been an accident, as was the second time - the third time had been an experiment. And after that it had become his mission. Lance always noticed his socks, paid attention even to the smallest detail about him.

It made him happy.

 

* * *

 

  1. _I like the way you point out my mismatched socks_
  2. _I like your competitiveness_
  3. _I like how you always seem to lose your keys_



 

* * *

 

“Yo. What’s up?” Lance’s voice greeted him as soon as he pushed the door open. Keith didn’t reply, he just closed the door, dumped his backpack on the floor and took his shoes off before heading directly to his room. He couldn’t deal with Lance today. Or anyone else, for that matter. He just really wanted this day to be over already.

It had been a rough day. Even looking back on it now it had been a rough day, Keith thought. And it hadn’t even been the kind of rough day that could be salvaged with a few light hearted jokes and distractions, it was the kind of rough day that hit you directly in the gut and forced you into a low that wouldn’t quite leave over the next two days.

So yeah, it had been a really rough day. Keith dropped onto the bed, not caring in the slightest about how awkward his position was. He was home, his bed smelled like him, he could just relax and forget for now.

Or so he had thought. Life wasn’t that kind though.

“Keith? Buddy?” came Lance’s voice from somewhere at the door. Keith knew that Lance wouldn’t enter his room without permission - for someone that didn’t always grasp the meaning of personal space, he had always respected that Keith’s room was his domaine. Entering it without invitation would be an intrusion in his privacy. Lance knew and respected that, something that Keith greatly appreciated.

And yet. And yet he was here bothering him.

Not really finding the strength that a solid reply required, Keith just grunted in response. Lance gave a laugh.

“Dude, you’re looking like a zombie. What happened? Did someone finally threaten to cut off your mullet?”

Oh god. If Lance kept this up, Keith would develop a headache on top of everything else. Scrunching his eyes shut, he gave him the finger over his head.

More laughter. “Wow, was I actually on poi-”

“Not in the mood, Lance,” Keith cut in. He had sounded harsher than intended but he couldn’t really bring himself to apologize. Maybe Lance would be offended and leave him alone for once…

“Can I come in?” Lance finally asked after a few beats of silence. Keith was tempted to say no but shaking his head while lying on his stomach was a lot more difficult than nodding, so he nodded instead.

And maybe, a teeny, tiny part of him had craved for Lance’s company. For the easy comfort he provided. As long as he wasn’t talking, that was.

Blocking out his thoughts, he focused on the sound of Lance’s footsteps drawing closer. When they finally halted in their movements, Keith forced himself to turn his head to look at him. Lance had stopped right at the side of Keith’s bed, his expression open and maybe a little concerned.

“Hey,” Lance said softly.

“Hm,” Keith grunted back. Lance cracked a smile but didn’t laugh again. Instead he gestured towards the bed, head tilted to the side in an obvious question. Keith sighed deeply but patted his sheets nonetheless.

“So, what’s up with you? You doin’ alright?” Lance asked once he had settled down onto the bed. He didn’t really do anything, didn’t try to wiggle around and make himself more comfortable and Keith was glad for it.

“Doing fine. Just having a rough day.”

“...wanna talk about it?”

Talk about what? How he had overslept, gotten to class too late and wrote a pop quiz that he most definitely failed? Or about the failed essay he got back? What about the the barista that got his order wrong and how he burned his tongue on the sugar loaded drink when he had expected a black coffee? Or maybe how he had dropped his lunch and didn’t carry enough money with him to buy himself something else? Maybe about how his locker had been stuck for the longest fucking time and when he had finally managed to wrench it open, he had gotten buried by its contents... or maybe how he had slipped on the fucking stairs right in front of his physics professor? Or maybe-

Yeah, no. He really, _really_ didn’t want to talk about it.

Either his silence or his expression must have clued Lance in on that, because he just got a pat on his back instead. It felt nice, almost as grounding as Shiro’s touch, and Keith let himself relax a little.

“How about I make you your favorite food and then you can go to sleep?”

Keith buried his face into his blankets and sighed. “You can’t cook for shit, Lance.”

“Actually, I can. And I might or might not have asked Hunk to show me how to make it two months ago just in case it would come in handy.”

Lance had… Lance had what?

 _Oh_.

The feeling of affection and gratitude that ran over him was so intense that Keith had to close his eyes and just breathe for a few seconds. He had thought that nothing could make this day any less worse, that it was ruined beyond repair - but Lance had proved him wrong. Lance could make _everything_ better.

“Yes, please,” he whispered into the sheets. For a moment he feared that he would have to repeat himself, but then Lance patted his shoulder again and got up.

“I got you, buddy. Come to the kitchen in 20.”

 

* * *

 

Reflecting on it now, Keith didn’t think that Lance had ever truly understood how much that simple gesture had meant to him.

Well, no time like the present. He smiled to himself as he wrote down the next few statements.

  1. _I like how you learned to make my favorite dish just to cheer me up_
  2. _I like that you always respect my privacy_
  3. _I like how you know when to be serious_



 

* * *

 

The first time it had happened, Keith had wrinkled his nose and turned to get a small towel. Lance had fallen asleep on the table in the kitchen, the exhaustion on his face clear as day. In fact, it was the only thing keeping Keith from shaking him awake - he was currently drooling all over the place and it was disgusting to watch.

But Lance was exhausted. Really exhausted, apparently. He would have never fallen asleep on the _kitchen table_ if he could have helped it, Keith could already imagine all the complaints that were bound to follow later. Something about being bad for his complexion, probably. And his neck. Nonetheless Keith didn’t have the heart to wake him, he just shoved the towel under his head as well as he managed to and left him there.

When Lance woke up later and, predictably, started complaining, Keith shut him up with telling him that he drooled. Lance vehemently denied everything.

Next time it happened was when they were both sitting together on the one lumpy seat that they kept in the living room, watching a movie. Keith didn’t really remember what the movie was about, he had been honestly too distracted by Lance falling asleep on his shoulder. When Lance’s head hit him, he startled a little - but when he turned to see that yeah, Lance had really fallen asleep, he couldn’t help the small smile that stretched over his face. He looked so peaceful and vulnerable like that, Keith just wanted to wrap his arms around him and protect him. Preferably forever. And maybe kiss him, too. Okay, definitely kiss him too, but he would make do with wrapping his arms around him for now.

He had shifted so that they could fit together better, lowering his shoulder so that Lance could comfortably rest atop of it. After that he had tried focusing back on the movie, but he hadn’t been very successful. Lance’s warmth and even breaths constantly drew his attention elsewhere.

But then. Then Lance had started drooling again. Keith knew that it wasn’t a common occurrence - he had seen Lance asleep multiple times already and he usually didn’t drool. At first he hadn’t really noticed it with Lance’s breath being as warm as the drool itself, but then it had started soaking through his shirt. Fucking disgusting.

And yet Keith hadn’t been able to wake him up. In all the times Keith had seen Lance falling asleep, he had never been tired enough to fall asleep on him. His mind had wandered back to the only other time that he had seen Lance drool and he had concluded that it might be a thing for when he was completely exhausted. If that was the case, then Keith could sacrifice his shirt for a little longer… at least for as long as the movie was still running.

For one reason or another, Lance woke up just when the movie ended. Keith waited for him to rub the sleep out of his eyes, his heart giving a little squeeze at the cute display, then he playfully nudged his shoulder with his own.

“Had a good sleep?”

“Your bony shoulder is uncomfortable as hell,” Lance muttered in response, tired eyes almost falling shut again.

“Hm-hm. You sure that it wasn’t just feeling bad because of all the wetness?”

“What?” Keith grinned at Lance’s honest confusion and leaned away a little to let him take a look at his shoulder. The moment Lance understood what he was getting at, his face contorted into a mix of horror and indignation. “Nope. Not me. I don’t know what you did there but I don’t drool.”

And there was that.

In total, Keith caught him drooling seven times over the course of six months. The last time it had happened, it had been somewhere around October 20th and Keith had finally whipped out his phone to get some photographic evidence. Game over, Lance. There was no way he could still deny it now.

When Lance woke up the next day to Keith smugly presenting him the photo, he just narrowed his eyes at it and waved it off. “Fake,” he claimed.

 _Fake_.

Keith huffed and zoomed in before shoving it towards Lance once again. “How would I have faked this?”

Lance didn’t even bother to give it his full attention, he just glanced at the picture and yawned. Then he made his way over to the kitchen, stretching his arms above his head. “Dunno. You probably learned how to fake pictures from all the conspiracy documentaries you keep watching until 3am.”

“For the last time, I have never watched those in my life! Just because I believe that we aren’t the only intelligent life form in this universe I am not a conspiracy fanatic!”

“Sure, dude,” Lance said from the kitchen. Despite Keith still standing in his room, he could hear the smirk on his face. Fucking Lance. He knew exactly what he was looking like right now and he wanted to get rid of that annoying expression.

“It’s not fake! Want to call Pidge over to prove it?”

Lance froze where he was currently tipping cereal into his bowl. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Watch me,” Keith smirked.

 

* * *

 

  1. _I like how you deny that you drool when you fall asleep after an exhausting day_
  2. _I like your expressive face_
  3. _I like your jokes and our easy banter_



Eighteen. Keith stared at the number as if it would somehow change its value. How could he be at eighteen already? He had barely even begun to list all the stuff he liked about Lance. There were so many other things, things that he didn’t even need a specific scene for to recall them-

  1. _I like your shitty taste in music_
  2. _I like that you are so open about your love for your family_
  3. _I like how everything is an adventure for you_



Keith couldn’t stop, there were so many things he liked about Lance, how was he supposed to limit himself-

  1. _I like how kind and selfless you are, even if you try to hide it_



At that, he forced himself to stop. There was just one more thing he could write before it was time for his confession. Just one more thing… he had to choose wisely.

 

* * *

 

“Keith, what the hell do you think you are doing?!”

“That guy is a racist piece of shit and I’m gonna-”

“Nu-uh, don’t think so. Sit down, cool your jets and ignore the dude.”

~*~

“Lance.”

“...”

“ _Lance_.”

“Just a little longer, I’m almost through with this-”

“Lance, it’s time to sleep, finish that tomorrow.”

~*~

“I’m not doing that.”

“Oh, come on! You have to let yourself have some fun sometimes, live a little!”

“I don’t think that embarrassing myself in the middle of a store is ‘having fun’.”

“What part of trying on stupid looking sunglasses is embarrassing yourself? Everyone does that!”

“...are you serious right now?”

“Dead serious. Come on, I bet it’ll make you laugh.”

~*~

“-and _then_ I was like-”

“Lance.”

“...yeah?”

“Quiet down a little. People are staring.”

“Oops. Will do, thanks dude.”

~*~

“Uh- um, I think I have a tissue somewhere- don’t- I mean, there is no need to cry-”

“Keith!”

“Lance!”

“...what is going on?”

“I-I don’t know, I was just- walking and then I found her crying on the sidewalk-”

 _Chuckling_. “You’re horrible at comforting people, my friend. Just look for your tissue, I’ve got this.”

~*~

“Lance?”

“...yeah?”

“You did a great job today.”

“...”

“I’m serious. You did. No, don’t look away - listen. You did a great job.”

“...thanks, Keith.”

 

* * *

 

Keith’s hand was shaking when he wrote down his 23rd statement.

  1. _I like how we balance each other out_



He breathed in. Held the air and started writing once more. It was a fact.

  1. _I like you_



And out.

All tension left his body as he placed the pen aside to run his fingers over the paper, smiling softly. It was done. 23 things he liked about Lance - and one confession.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [JasonVoorhees](http://archiveofourown.org/users/JasonVoorhees/pseuds/JasonVoorhees) for pointing out that hurt animals that aren't pets should be brought to your local wildlife rehabilitation center! Don't be dumb like Lance and Keith and take a detour to the vet, everyone :P


	2. Chapter 2

It was December 1st. Just yesterday he had had a major freak out over whether he’d actually be able to pull through with this - he had almost changed his mind. Almost. He was Keith though and he was actually quite proud of the fact that it took more than a little anxiety to make him doubt his decisions. His past self had had enough time to think it through without last minute panic, so he would trust him to have decided to do the right thing. It was as easy as that.

Right. As easy as that.

Keith snuck one last glance at the inconspicuous box on his bed, then he exhaled and opened the door. Time to get this over with, he could already hear Lance walking around outside.

The moment he exited, he saw a tiny, blue bag hanging from the handle. He frowned down at it and lifted it up, shaking it a little. It felt suspiciously empty, even if there were just a bunch of papers inside. Was that Lance’s plan? To give him an _empty_ advent calendar?

A little miffed, Keith opened the bag. Much to his surprise, it wasn’t really empty: there was a single slip of paper in there, similar to the ones that were in his box. Huh. Did Lance want to give him a new bag with a new paper each morning? That was so…

So over the top. So very _Lance_.

Keith smiled to himself as he drew the paper out of the bag. He couldn’t really help how his heart beat a little faster - but he was allowed to be excited. This was a personal present from Lance! It was special, of course he was allowed to.

When he opened the slip of paper though, he couldn’t help his brows drawing together.

_I love it when you admit that I’m better than you at something._

...what?

Gripping both the paper and the bag a little tighter, Keith headed towards the living room. He could hear noise coming from there. And there Lance was: standing on his tiptoes, he was taping another little bag to the wall, a big, golden number 17 on it.

“What are you doing?” Keith called out. Lance jumped a little and turned towards him, his eyes quickly falling onto the things in his hands. The moment he saw them, a big smirk took over his features.

“Oh? I see you already found number 1?”

...number 1? A sneaking suspicion taking hold of him, Keith turned the bag around. There was a bright golden number 9 on it.

“Uh…” Oops. “I think I got the wrong one.”

Frowning a little, Lance approached him. “Wrong one how?”

“This isn’t-” Keith held up the bag, sheepishly looking to the side. He should have thought about turning it around before he opening it.

Meanwhile Lance was giving him the most disappointed look Keith had ever seen him wear. “Can’t figure out how an advent calendar works? Really?”

“Shut up, I just thought that the bag that you attached _right_ _to my door_ would be the first one.” Keith unceremoniously shoved the paper back inside and went to put it back onto the handle. “So, where is number 1?”

“You gotta go look for it! And make sure to check that you aren’t opening 11 or something, they are supposed to be a surprise, you know?!”

By the time Keith had finally found number 1 - under the sink in the bathroom, really, Lance? - it was almost time for him to head out for classes. Lance was already at the door, cheerfully telling him to hurry up and give him his own calendar when Keith finally opened the slip.

_I like it when your dumb mullet gets in the way and you have to admit that you’d be better off without it._

...that didn’t really sound like a compliment.

Keith thought back to number 9.

_I love it when you admit that I’m better than you at something._

Back to number 1.

_I like it when your dumb mullet gets in the way and you have to admit that you’d be better off without it._

A horrible realization crashed over him when he understood what that meant. These statements didn’t sound like compliments because they _weren’t_. Back in November Lance had issued a challenge, not a request for a bonding activity. Keith had said it to Shiro, even: there had been nothing but that cocky smirk on his face, nothing that spoke of something serious.

Fuck.

 _Fuck_.

Completely sidelining the fact that Keith couldn’t possibly give Lance his own calendar now, he hadn’t expected it to hurt. But fuck him if this wasn’t a very real pain. He had been looking forward to this, he admitted to himself - he had been looking forward to getting his own calendar and he had expected Lance to take this seriously. To show him that he liked him, that maybe, maybe he had a chance with him just like Shiro kept telling him over and over again…  

Fuck. Christ. He couldn’t fucking do this.

Clenching his hand and wrinkling the paper in it, Keith got up to his feet. He stepped out of the bathroom, heading towards his room to put the bag on his desk and gathered his backpack. Lance was still waiting in the door for him, a wide smirk on his face.

“So, did you find it?”

“The one under the bathroom sink?” Keith replied in a monotonous voice. He put his shoes on with more force than necessary but he couldn’t find it in him to care. There was a fire in him, a burn that hurt too much to worry about what Lance might think. That jerk was the reason it was there anyway so who gave a fuck, right?

“...yeah,” Lance said. There was a beat of silence, where Keith grabbed his keys and exited the apartment, locking it behind him. “...so, where is my calendar?”

Hah. His calendar.

It was none of his business.

“I didn’t finish yet,” Keith answered cooly. He didn’t look at Lance when he started making his way to campus.

“Pfft, then it’s definitely my win. I mean, if you can’t finish your present on time you shouldn’t even be qualified to enter the competition.”

That’s right. A fucking competition. Keith just grunted, not bothering to give a reply.

“...Keith?”

“What?”

“...you okay, buddy?”

“Just fine,” Keith gritted out. He silently cursed Hunk and Shiro for making him think that this was a good idea. Trusting in his past self to make the right decision? His past self was a fucking idiot, never again.

The rest of the walk happened in silence, Keith not noticing the concerned glances Lance was sending his way.

~*~

Keith had finished the new advent calendar in class. He honestly didn’t remember what he had scribbled down, but it didn’t matter anyway. It was just a game. Nothing serious.

Fucking Lance.

Once Lance had seen the new, badly ripped paper slips he had immediately concluded that Keith had done them during lectures. But he hadn’t cared, he had just laughed, picked the the first one out from the heap on the kitchen table and snickered at whatever was written on it. All in all, he had thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Good for him.

Keith certainly hadn’t enjoyed himself. He hadn’t back then and still didn’t right now. It was cold as balls, the train ride was like 30 minutes long and he was shivering in his warm jacket but he couldn’t afford to go to someone else. Shiro’s place would have been closer, actually. Or Hunk’s. Or Pidge’s dorm.

All of them were no-goes though. While it hadn’t been on purpose, Shiro was kind of the reason he was in this mess in the first place. If Shiro hadn’t encouraged him, he would have never finished the calendar that he was currently holding between his freezing fingers. He wasn't really angry at him but he wanted to go any kind of confrontation out of the way. Especially since Shiro had the ability to make Keith reconsider everything and still give Lance the calendar. Which - no way.

Hunk was out, too. Not just because of the bad advice but because the guy couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. He might not mean any harm with it, but Hunk and secrets went about as well together as Keith and lies.

Pidge was definitely out, too. It wasn’t that he was worried that she would spill the beans - he knew that she knew what it was like to have secrets that you just couldn’t tell anyone. According to her, it had taken her a while to come out to her friends, even if she had admitted that she had known that they would all be supportive. Keith hadn’t known her back then but fact was that she knew about well-guarded secrets.

So really, it wasn’t because of her at all. It was because her dorm was too damn tiny and Lance spent way too much time hanging out over there. It would only be a matter of time before he would find the box and that would be Keith’s demise.

Naturally, his own apartment was out, too. Not because Lance would snoop around in his room, he really, truly did respect Keith’s boundaries and didn’t do stuff like that, but because the only safe place was _his room_. And honestly, he couldn’t stand seeing the calendar anymore. Even just thinking about it was painful. He had poured all of his feelings into making it and it had only left him disappointed and hurt. Despite that, he couldn’t bring himself to destroy it - so he had to hide it somewhere else.

There was just one place left.

And that’s how Keith found himself in front of Allura’s ridiculously large house, his heart beating painfully in his chest as his fingers clenched around the box. She wouldn’t make fun of him for this. Would she? No, she wouldn’t. She might get excited and tell Coran about it, but Coran could definitely keep a secret. This was okay, he was safe.

Breathing in deeply, he pressed the doorbell. Not even a second later a small speaker crackled to life, Coran’s voice sounding through it.

“Hmm, yes?”

“Hi, it’s Keith,” he responded evenly.

“Oh, Keith! It’s good to hear of you, my friend. What can I do for you?”

Keith shifted from one foot to the other. “Um, could I come in? It’s freezing out here. And is Allura there?”

“Certainly, come right in! I’ll prepare a nice, warm tea for you, how does that sound? Allura’s in the living room, go ahead.”

“Awesome,” Keith breathed out. A buzz sounded and he pushed the door open.

~*~

“...and then it turned out that it was all just a joke for him. His ‘compliments’ are more of a collection of insults than anything else. Can I hide this here?”

For a moment there was nothing to be heard but the cracking of the firewood, keeping the living room bathed in warm and orange light. Keith breathed in, then out. He couldn’t smell the fire since it was hidden away behind well isolated glass walls but just watching it had a calming effect on him already. The interior design of Allura’s house was really nice.

“Oh, Keith,” Allura suddenly whispered. His head snapped around to meet her sad eyes and he noticed how her eyebrows were furrowed in concern. She was obviously worried… an unpleasant feeling spread through him when he realized that he was the source of it.

“It’s really not that bad. I’m fine, promise. I didn’t really think I had… you know, a chance with it anyway. I just need a place where I can hide this and not worry about Lance accidentally finding it.”

“I promise that it will be safe here,” Allura said. She reached and plucked the box from his hands, setting it aside for now. Then she enveloped his hands in hers, her concern not having vanished one bit. “Are you sure you are okay though?”

Keith raised one eyebrow and shrugged. “It’s Lance. At this point I should be used to it already. It’s not his fault, it’s not my fault, it’s just the way things are between us. I’m not heartbroken or anything.”

He _wasn’t_.

There was no reaction. Just when the clasp of their hands threatened to become awkward, Allura let go and nodded. “Fine. Please promise me that you will to come to me if you need support of any kind though.”

“Promise.” Keith gave her an awkward little smile that she returned.

~*~

Over the course of December, Keith managed to get over his hurt. He could even see the appeal in Lance’s twisted compliments calendar, around half of the things he wrote made him laugh. And whenever it was Lance’s turn to open his paper, they both crowded around it, Keith having admitted long ago that he had no clue anymore about what he wrote on the slips. It had earned him a lot of teasing and bragging on Lance’s part, but in the end it really wasn’t half bad.

All was good and fine. He was totally over it.

And then the 24th approached.

The day hit him like a truck on the road. This was the day. Today was the day where Lance had been supposed to learn about Keith’s crush. Instead Keith had given him a paper with ‘ _I_ _like it when you disappear for 2 hours to talk to your family, finally some quiet for me_ ’. He had gotten a ‘ _I love it when you hand everyone their presents, knowing that yours are never gonna be as cool as mine_ ’ back.

Wow. Just wow.

As Keith’s paper had predicted, Lance disappeared for a few hours that day to talk to his family. Keith spent the majority of the day with Shiro, dodging all his questions about what happened to confessing his feelings and helping him wrapping his presents instead. Shiro had tried to do it himself but his wrapping skills were honestly sub-par at best. He didn’t even deny it when Keith told him.

Shiro. Maybe it was because he spent so much downtime with Shiro, but when the afternoon came he felt a lot more relaxed than before.

All in all, the day passed just fine. Lance invited Hunk over to get him to make dinner, since he wasn’t able to get home for the holidays either. Keith himself had fun. It was one of the best Christmas Eve’s he has had in his whole life and that included the one where Shiro had brought over a huge bowl of red Jell-O, just to slip and faceplant right into it. So yeah, it was pretty great. Keith was at peace when he fell asleep that night, a smile on his face.

But then the 25th came, the day that would change everything. Allura had invited them over, which really should have been his first hint. The damn calendar was still in her house, after all. Keith wasn’t the kind of guy to believe in omen though, he saw the simple logic in everyone coming over to her place. Her living room was big enough to effortlessly hold all seven of them and their respective presents. They had disassembled Shiro’s chair and wrapped each part on its own, making it both more interesting to unpack and easier to carry home later.

Once again, Keith was sort of anxious at the beginning of the day. But when they arrived at her house, Allura made no pass at the calendar or feelings, so that feeling quickly vanished again. He spent the entire day around her and the others, Pidge being the only one to leave that evening. She had another family dinner to attend, it seemed.

When night came, Lance was slightly tipsy. And so was he, probably. Not enough to do anything stupid, just enough to smile more and feel a little warmer inside. An effect that got got stronger when Lance was around him, if he had to be completely honest.

It was 1am when Allura sent them all to bed. Keith was still feeling happy and content from the great day he had had with everyone, so he didn’t suspect anything when Shiro said that he would room with Keith for the night. All was cool. He hadn’t bothered him with annoying questions all day, he probably just wanted to have a sleepover or something.

Oh, how naive he had been.

The moment they closed the door behind them, Shiro’s gave up his straight posture and let his shoulders fall. He did that a lot around Keith when he wanted to make sure that Keith saw them as equals, that the few years of age difference between them didn’t matter at all.

He did that when he wanted to _talk_. Fuck.

“Keith-”

Groaning, Keith let himself fall on the bed to the left. “Can we not do this?” he pleaded, eyes closed. He didn’t need them open to know that Shiro was looking at him with big, disappointed eyes.

“Did you talk to him?”

...Keith wanted to be difficult. He really did. But this was _Shiro_ and if there was one person in the entire universe that he had patience for, then it was him.

“I didn’t,” he admitted quietly. A beat of silence followed.

“Why?” Shiro asked. Keith sat back up only to be met by the sight of Shiro having mimicked his position on the bed across from him.

“...I couldn’t. That’s the whole reason I made the calendar for in the first place, because I can’t admit to him in person that I like him.”

“Wait,” Shiro said, his eyebrows drawing together. Keith felt the urge to curl up and hide. What now? “You actually _made_ the calendar?”

“Yeah. But then-” The memories came back. How he had gotten up and found the first bag in front of his door, only to get confused by its contents. How he had read the other slip of paper. How realization had dawned on him and how his stomach had twisted in the most unpleasant way.

“-then I realized that Lance was seeing this all as a joke,” he finished quietly. A crushing weight settled onto his shoulders, forcing him to confront his emotions. Goddamn it, he had been doing so well.

“What happened to your calendar?” Shiro asked after a heavy pause. Even he couldn’t deny that Lance didn’t take him seriously, Keith thought with a sick feeling.

“It’s here. I couldn’t destroy it, Allura hid it somewhere in the attic.”

“It’s _here_?”

“I couldn’t stand seeing it in my room but I couldn’t risk Lance finding it either. So yeah, it’s here,” Keith sighed.

Alright, that was it then. Shiro got his talk, Keith had accepted that maybe he wasn’t quite as over the whole thing as he pretended to be and he had made it clear that he wouldn’t talk to Lance about it. The end. As easy as that.

But of fucking course it wasn’t that easy. “You should give it to him,” Shiro said.

He should what now.

Keith’s head shot up to glare at Shiro. “Absolutely not.”

“But you made it for him.”

“Yeah, and he didn’t care, it’s over now. Just forget it.”

“Keith,” Shiro said in that annoyingly insistent voice that always got him to listen. “Lance didn’t even know that you made it for him. Did I get that right?”

“...yeah,” Keith admitted unwillingly.

“It wasn’t a rejection. You didn’t even try.”

“Because he was treating it as a joke,” he insisted. Shiro was practically burning a hole into him with the intensity of his gaze but Keith refused to meet his eyes. No. Definitely not.

“He might have, but this is Lance. If you give it to him now in private he wouldn’t dare to make it into something that it isn’t.”

No. Oh no, Keith refused to let himself be swayed by that pragmatic tone. Once was enough already.

“Give him a chance. I think he will surprise you.”

“He already did that,” Keith answered sarcastically. At Shiro’s deep sigh, Keith finally gave in and met his eyes. Shiro looked tired - but Keith refused to believe that it was all his fault. It was 1am and break had just started two days ago, that was the problem here. He had nothing to do with it.

“Keith, listen to me. I think that you will regret it if you don’t use this chance. You managed to finish the entire calendar despite your struggles with finding the right words, do you think that you’ll be able to do that again in the future?”

He- ...no, probably not. Shiro must have seen the answer on his face because he gave an encouraging smile and kept going.

“Think about it. If all goes wrong now, you can come crash on my couch for a few days. We’re on break right now, that makes it easier. Once school starts again you’re going to have to see him every day, so better get this over with as soon as possible. I won’t force you to do it if you really don’t want to, but I think that you should consider this carefully.”

Keith hated Shiro. He hated him with every fibre of his being. Groaning, he hid his face behind his hands. “Okay. Okay! I’ll give it to him. I don’t even know where the attic is though-”

“No problem,” Shiro said immediately and got to his feet. “Allura should still be up, we’ll go ask her.”

“Wait, we’re doing this _now_?!” Keith got to his own feet and hurried after Shiro. His friend had already made it out of the door and turned right towards the living room. “It’s 1am!”

“Since when do convenient times matter to you?” Shiro quipped lightly. If Keith’s mind hadn’t been completely overloaded with the threat of his looming confession, he might have said something back. As it was he just hurried up, not wanting to be left behind. At this point it honestly wouldn’t surprise him if Shiro handed Lance the present himself in Keith’s name - which was the only thing that would be even more mortifying than doing it on his own.

Before Keith had gotten the chance to get himself together, they had already reached the living room. And true to Shiro’s word, there Allura was, reading on the couch next to Coran.

Shiro politely cleared his throat. “Allura.”

She immediately looked up, her hair flying out with the speed she turned her head towards them. “Shiro! And Keith, what are you doing still up? Did you need something?”

“Actually-” Shiro began but Keith cut him off before he could speak for him. He would not embarrass himself any further by doing things half-assedly.

“I need you to get me the calendar back. I want to give it to Lance.”

Whatever Keith had expected, it hadn’t been Allura lighting up the same way she had when she had unwrapped the sparkling scarf that Lance had given her.

“You will? Oh, that is wonderful news! Follow me, I’ll lead you right to it!”

...wonderful news? Keith was distracted enough by trying to figure out why _Allura_ would think that it was a good idea for him to give Lance the calendar that he didn’t even realize how they made their way towards the attic. He just followed behind Shiro and Allura, Coran creeping up next to him at some point but not forcing him to talk.

And then he held the cursed box back between his hands.

A little forlorn, Keith stared down at it. It was purple, because for some reason purple had been the only acrylic color they had had in their apartment (why they had it in the first place, he didn’t know), Lance’s name written in black sharpie on top of it. He had considered getting silver or something to make it stand out more, but in the end he hadn’t thought it was necessary. The present wasn’t the box, it were the carefully folded slips of paper in it.

“You alright, my boy?” Coran whispered next to him as Allura led them straight to Lance’s and Hunk’s room. Keith just hoped that they were still awake, he wasn’t about to steal anyone’s sleep for this.

“I’m fine,” he answered automatically. Coran hummed as if he wasn’t quite convinced by that statement but before he could say anything else, they had reached their destination. Giving him another bright smile, Allura gestured at the door in front of her.

“Here you go. Maybe knock first, I recall that you mentioned how easily he scares otherwise.”

A lopsided grin snuck onto Keith’s face. “Yeah, he does.”

“Alright then, in you go!” Coran announced and repeatedly slapped his back. Quickly stepping forward to avoid him as much as possible, Keith knocked against the door. Coran was a good guy, but he could be overly enthusiastic at times. Even more so than Lance.

Just as Keith had finished that thought, a faint ‘ _yeah?_ ’ sounded through the door. All air left him at once - Lance was still up, he had to do this now. There were no more excuses.

“Lance? It’s me.” A pause. “Can I come in?”

A very confused ‘ _Keith?_ ’ followed his words, then heavy footsteps and the door opened to reveal a frowning Lance. He had half expected to see him with his face mask, but maybe he didn’t wear it when he wasn’t at home. It did seem like it would take a long time to apply it correctly…

“Uh,” Lance said slowly, letting his eyes rank over the people assembled behind Keith. “What’s up? We gonna have a big sleepover?”

“Did someone say sleepover? I love sleepovers!” Hunk called from somewhere inside the room. Right. Hunk was still there, too. Swallowing nervously, Keith angled the top of the box away from Lance so that he couldn’t see his name on it.

“Actually, I really need to talk to you. In, um. In private.” His eyes darted to the side and he resisted the urge to bite his lip.

Meanwhile, Lance just stared at him in utter confusion. “Sure? I guess? Why is everyone else here?”

“Actually,” Keith gave a glare over his shoulder, “they were just about to leave.”

“Right,” Shiro immediately agreed, placing his hands onto Allura’s shoulders and steering her away. “See you later, Keith! Good luck!”

 _Good luck_. Could he be any more obvious? Keith flushed violently as Coran cleared his throat. “Hunk?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you mind joining me for a second? I could need an extra hand or two,” Coran said. Almost reluctantly Hunk appeared in the doorway, rubbing his eyes as if he had been half-asleep already. Damn. Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long and he could go back to bed soon. Keith felt bad for keeping him awake.

“I mean, sure? But don’t you think that 1:30am is a weird time to do something that needs ‘an extra hand or two’? Sounds like you’re trying to fix something and it’s too dark to see properly like this.”

“Oh, that’s why I need the extra hand! You gotta hold up the flashlight so that I can take care of that nasty beeping in the bathroom!”

“Eh.” Hunk made a face but followed Coran down the floor. “Couldn’t you have just gotten Allura to help you? I’m sure she’d have been an excellent human torch,” was the last thing Keith heard of him before they disappeared around the corner.

“...Keith?”

Right. It was just him and Lance now.

Giving him an intense stare, he dragged him into the room. They didn’t necessarily have to be in here but having four walls around him gave him a better illusion of privacy. If Lance thought it was weird, he didn’t comment on it.

“So, you’re gonna tell me what this is about, or…” Lance let his sentence trail off, cocking one eyebrow at him. Keith fidgeted a little more, then braced himself and got right to the point.

“There has been a misunderstanding.”

“...has there?”

“Yeah,” Keith confirmed. He held up the box and angled it towards Lance so that he could read his name. The moment he caught sight of the letters, his expression turned from wary to curious. “Remember the calendars?”

Lance ripped his eyes away from the box to give Keith a flat stare. “Well, duh. Today is only the 25th, I wouldn’t forget about them within 24 hours.”

“Right.” Ignoring the underlying jab, Keith kept talking. “So, about the calendars - when you first said that we’d be doing them, I thought you were serious.”

“...I was serious? We already did them, just yesterday we opened the last-”

“No.” Keith gathered up all the resolve he could find and stared Lance squarely in the face. His friend looked adorably confused, brows furrowed but eyes full of concern. “I meant that I thought you were serious about what you asked me to do. To write you a calendar full of things that I like about you.”

Lance’s reaction was interesting, to say the least. At first he blinked uncomprehendingly, then understanding dawned and his eyes grew huge. After that an almost violent blush took over his features - but with Lance being Lance, it receded again not long after. For a while he just opened and closed his mouth, no words sounding through, then he cleared his throat.

“So. Uh. You- you’re saying that _that-_ ”

“Is the original calendar I made for you, yeah,” Keith confirmed. Lance made a half dying noise and turned away from him just to turn back not even a second later.

“Can I look at it?”

Silently, Keith handed over the box. He felt strangely vulnerable the moment it left his fingers but he made no move to get it back. Instead he crossed his arms over his chest, trying to calm himself down.

“Alright, then let’s do it!” Lance said cheerfully. He enthusiastically sat down on the carpeted floor, the only thing betraying his feelings being the slight tremble in his voice. It was strangely endearing to Keith. As always, Lance was trying his hardest to make this situation into the least awkward thing it could be.

Smiling to himself, Keith gingerly sat down across from him. He watched Lance open the box, not missing the nervous thrill in his eyes. Funny, Lance looked exactly how he felt. Maybe a little less anxious.

“Do I have to open them in a specific order?”

Keith didn’t trust his voice not to crack, so he nodded his head. He couldn’t risk Lance opening number 24 before the rest. Despite seeming a little surprised by his answer, Lance he didn’t complain, he just shrugged and searched for the first slip.

Keith swore his heart stopped the moment Lance’s fingers closed around it.

Slowly, carefully Lance opened it. He read it, face twisting into something like disbelief, then read it again. When Lance finally looked up again Keith felt ready to bolt.

He wouldn’t though. He was Keith; he didn’t run away in the face of danger. He was better than that.

“Dude, that’s- that’s pretty gay,” Lance said then. Keith gave him a flat look, despite the pang in his chest. It being gay was kind of the entire point.

“Shut up and read the others. Save your dumb comments for after.”

“I’m holding you to that.” Lance grinned and Keith flipped him off, hoping that his words wouldn’t come true. If he really replied to his confession with a joke Keith wasn’t sure what he would do. What he could do, even. He might just get up and leave to have a quiet breakdown under his blanket.

In the following silence, Lance got back to unfolding the next slip of paper. His eyebrows rose amusedly but he kept silent and reached for the next one. He left the finished ones opened on his right, angled towards him as if he was trying to create a picture with the lot of them. The further he got, the more his grin widened.

It was at paper number 5 that his grin froze a little. At paper number 6 he stopped reading for a moment, as if its content affected him deeply. Keith even thought for a moment that he might start crying - tipsy Lance was even more emotional than sober Lance, after all - but he held himself together and paper 7 made him laugh again. It was an honest, involuntary laugh, one that left Keith’s own lips twitching to join.

He liked this, he realized. He liked it a lot. He liked Lance reading these compliments that he had thought so much about, he liked seeing how he smiled at them, how he treasured them. He liked feeling the anticipation in his stomach whenever Lance reached for the next one.

Maybe, just maybe, he actually had a real chance with his confession. Keith was a realist at heart but even he couldn’t stop the hope from flickering up in his chest. If Lance had gotten something like this from Hunk, he’d probably have cooed and pretended to swoon multiple times. If he had gotten it from Pidge, he would have teased but hugged her, if he had gotten it from Allura or Shiro… Keith wasn’t quite sure how he would have reacted.

But he hadn’t gotten it from them. He had gotten it from Keith. And Keith had expected little jabs and bragging and he couldn’t have been more wrong. He had his eyes helplessly glued to Lance’s face, taking in the way he seemed to radiate a deep happiness. That wasn’t - that wasn’t how just a friend would react, right?

Right?!

Keith sure hoped so. He really, _really_ did.

It was at paper number 22 that Lance finally caught on that there was something more to this. The change in his mood was instantly noticeable, he clutched the paper a little tighter and looked up at Keith before looking down again. Then he quickly reached out for number 23, letting 22 flutter to the ground. Keith caught sight of what was written on it:

_I like how kind and selfless you are, even if you try to hide it_

Huh. Keith wasn’t quite sure what was so special about that line, but he wasn’t about to ask. Lance already seemed tense enough as it was.

“Is this-” Lance suddenly began, wide eyes entirely focused on the second to last paper. Keith wasn’t sure what to answer, wasn’t even sure what he was asking, so he just defensively hunched his shoulders. At the lack of a verbal response from him, Lance lifted his head. “Keith, is this-”

Ah. This time Lance didn’t need to finish his question for Keith to get it. His face was like an open book, betraying confusion and desperation and so, so much _hope_. Keith suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe anymore, he felt his own heartbeat in his ears.

“I-” his voice cracked. It didn’t matter, he couldn’t really hear it anyway. “I think so?”

Lance’s eyes were still desperately searching his face - for what, Keith didn’t know. What more confirmation did he need?

Finally, Lance looked back down. He was staring at the box now, at the last slip of paper, lying innocently in the middle of the purple box. The tension in the room was palpable and Keith wished that he would just get it over with. Slowly but determinedly Lance reached out for the paper-

And then he stopped, never opening it. Just holding it between his fingers, crinkling it more than the ones before.

Keith was about to snap at him to _just fucking get it over with_ , when Lance fixed him with an intense look and stared him down.

“Say it.”

There was a beat of silence before the words caught up to Keith, then he flushed bright red. “Why? It’s written right there, just open it.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to get disappointed when I open it and it’s something different,” Lance answered.

“Are you saying that you won’t get disappointed when I say something different to your face?”

Keith wasn’t trying to be difficult, per se. It was just that he wasn’t quite sure whether he could say it. While totally unintentional, Lance had already taken it as a joke once before… Keith wasn’t ready to go through that again.

But Lance just narrowed his eyes, waving the paper at him accusingly. “Dude, listen. If this is what I think it is then you can’t just write it on a piece of paper and be done with it.”

 _And why the hell not?_ , was what Keith had wanted to ask. What came out instead was: “What do you think it is?”

Well then. At least it took the focus off him.

For a while Lance spluttered for a response, then he crossed his arms and petulantly shook his head. “No. Nu-uh, nope. You don’t get to do this.”

Or not.

A vague feeling of dread curled in Keith’s stomach when he realized that he wouldn’t get out of this one. Lance was still glaring. He obviously expected him to talk but- Keith was bad with words. So goddamn bad. How did one confess, anyway? Did you just blurt it out and hope for the best? Were there some kind of rules to follow? Why was he overthinking it so much? It was just Lance!

Just Lance. Right. His heart didn’t quite seem to agree with that statement.

“Hey,” Lance said softly, all accusations gone from his voice. Keith snapped his eyes back up, not even remembering when he had lowered them. “It’ll be fine, whatever it is. I promise I won’t laugh, deal?”

“...okay,” Keith reluctantly agreed. He took the hand that Lance had offered as if he wanted them to shake on it, but it didn’t move. Their hands just hovered in the air, clasped around each other, holding on tightly. Lance’s hand was a little cold and clammy, but his skin felt so ridiculously soft that Keith didn’t mind at all. He liked it even. It felt nice. Holding hands felt nice.

Holding hands felt _extremely_ nice.

Keith kind of wanted to hold his hand forever.

And just like that, his worries flew out of the window. Lance had been the one to extend his hand and wrap his fingers around his, Lance was the one whose hand was sweating, Lance was the one who still looked at him with hope in his eyes. It was easy to talk now.

“I like you,” Keith said. “I really, really like you.”

A brilliant smile took over Lance’s face, one that Keith hadn’t seen before. None of his previous ones came even close to the pure, unfiltered joy it radiated. If those had been like the sun, this one was like R136a1 - around 10 million times as bright.

“Well, that’s fortunate,” Lance grinned. “Because for some reason I really, really like you, too.”

Keith’s heart really shouldn’t have given such a pathetic flutter at that. “For some reason?” he asked, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. Lance’s grin deepened.

“Yeah. You’d have to give me a month and a psychoanalyst to find the first possible clue-”

A loud bang interrupted them and both Lance and Keith startled heavily. Their heads whipped around to the door where Hunk was sprawled over the floor, Allura on top of him, Shiro and Coran nervously grinning at them from the sides.

Keith just blinked. “What the-”

“Okay, in our defense,” Hunk said quickly and pushed himself up, forcing Allura to get to her feet and dust her dress off. “You guys were taking forever. It was starting to worry us. So we decided to check up on you, but when we arrived you didn’t even talk. So naturally we thought that you were kissing or something… and because you left the door ajar we figured that it would be safe to walk in. But _then_ I checked through the crack - just to be safe - and you still weren’t even finished with the calendar so we decided to wait for you-”

“You were _spying_ on us?!” Lance exclaimed. He tried to point an accusing finger at Hunk making Keith notice that their hands were still linked together. Lance wasn’t bothered by it though, he didn’t even let go of Keith, just twisted their joined hands around until Hunk could see his finger. The new position had dragged Keith close to his side, their shoulders almost touching.

Cautiously, Keith leaned against him. Lance didn’t really react, just pressed back a little. It was enough to make Keith smile, satisfied to just sit here and watch the scene unfold.

“I didn’t mean to!” Hunk complained. “But, as I was saying, you were taking forever and even after you started talking you were _still_ taking forever and now you have both confessed but _still_ haven’t kissed-”

Keith flushed a little and interrupted him with a loud ‘ _Hunk!_ ’ just when Lance said: “You didn’t even give us the chance to!”

 _‘You didn’t even-’_ ...did that mean that Lance wanted to kiss him?

Oh hell yes. Now would be a good moment for Hunk and the others to leave again, Keith wasn’t sure how much longer he could be patient for.

“You had plenty of chances! You were just taking too long!”

“And that’s why you resorted to spying?” Lance gave Hunk a skeptical look and tugged at Keith’s arm. “Come on, babe, I just got betrayed by my best friend. By all of my friends, actually. Let’s throw his stuff out and make you move in.”

The amount of protests that followed Lance’s statement made Keith laugh. He was pretty sure that the alcohol didn’t have anything to do anymore with the pleasantly warm feeling tingling in his stomach.

~*~

“Pidge!” Hunk exclaimed as soon as she entered the living room with Coran. He was shaking her before she had even had the chance to take one look at everyone else. “Pidge! You missed so much yesterday! Or technically it was today? The point is, you missed _so much_.”

“I got a boyfriend!” Lance called out from the couch. He was leaning against the armrest, his legs draped over Keith’s lap who had been tapping out a rhythm against his knees until Pidge had arrived.

“Keith confessed to Lance!” Allura added. She excitedly bounced over to them, placing one hand on each of their shoulders. Keith let her do it, he knew that she had been worried about him for most of December. Keeping his hands securely on Lance’s legs, Keith twisted his torso around to get a better look at Pidge and Hunk.

“Yes!” Hunk said just then, wrapping an arm around Pidge to pull her close and point at the couch. “Look at them, being all gay and happy and in love.”

Pidge blinked a few times, then weaseled her way out of Hunk’s arm and adjusted her glasses. The room waited in anticipation for her answer.

When it came, it was completely deadpan. “You’re shitting me.”

“Oh no, young lad, they are absolutely serious,” Coran said from behind her, twirling his moustache. Keith felt Lance shift in his lap and turned his attention towards him, catching a flicker of a shit eating grin on his face.

“Well. I guess if you don’t believe us, we’ll just have to prove it,” he drawled. And with these words he scooted closer until he was sitting in Keith’s lap, wrapping both of his arms around his shoulders to smoosh their cheeks together. Keith, for his part, was content to just wrap his arms around his waist and hold him loosely.

There was a beat of silence where Pidge obviously tried very hard to figure out whether they were just messing with her, then she finally moved. Her eyes never left Keith and Lance but she turned her head into Shiro’s direction. “Are they for real?”

“Very real,” Shiro smiled. From where their cheeks were mushed together, Keith felt Lance’s lips stretching into a smirk. He didn’t even need to say anything; Keith understood completely. An answering smirk took over Keith’s features and he wasn’t surprised in the least when Lance shifted around until he was straddling his legs, facing him. Their noses brushed together, then their foreheads-

“Alright, _okay_ , I think I get it!”

“You’re not depriving me of my kiss!” Lance called back, eyes twinkling with mirth. Not that the others could see it - Keith could though and he cherished every second of it.

“Then come get it,” Keith whispered. Lance flushed a little but his smirk deepened, making the corners his eyes crinkle up a little further.

“Who am I to deny such a humble request from my boyfriend?” he whispered back. Keith huffed a laugh and accepted Lance’s lips, angling his head a little to make them fit together better. They were just as soft and warm as they had been yesterday night. Neither of them bothered to open their mouths, they just lazily moved against each other, caught up in the feeling of intimacy despite being surrounded by five other people.

Keith was vaguely aware of Pidge asking something along the lines of ‘ _are they always going to be like this now_ ’ and Hunk replying with ‘ _probably. I think it’s sweet though_ ’, but he really didn’t focus too much on it. He had Lance right here, one hand at the back of his head, the other one still curled around his waist, kissing him. He honestly couldn’t be blamed for not focusing on the dumb comments of his friends.

It wasn’t too long after that when Lance broke the kiss. He didn’t move far away though, just enough to study every inch of Keith’s face. Keith honest to god didn’t know what he could find so interesting about it but then again, he was doing the exact same thing to Lance. Maybe it was just a thing that couples did.

A couple. They were a couple now.

A warm feeling spread through his body, enveloping him from head to toe. He was with Lance. He was now allowed to take his hand when he wanted and ruffle his hair when he was waking up. He could hug him when he looked too pretty to stand and kiss him when his dumb jokes made him laugh - wow. And all that just because he had listened to Shiro. He would have to buy him 20 packs of Swedish Fish as soon as possible, he more than deserved it.

Distracted with his thoughts, Keith didn’t notice Lance moving before it was too late. “Boop,” he said and pressed a finger to Keith’s nose. Keith jerked back in surprise, then looked at him in utter confusion.

“What was-”

But Lance just started laughing, dropping forward until his forehead hit Keith’s shoulder. His left hand came up to tangle in Keith’s hair and Keith shifted, trying to get a look at his boyfriend. Lance didn’t work with him though, so he settled for carding his own hand through his hair.

“What’s up with your reaction? Never had anyone nose-boop you? I cannot believe your face,” he wheezed out between two laughs. Keith scowled and tugged at his hair a bit.

“You’re an ass.”

“I can’t believe you just said that to your boyfriend.”

“And I cannot believe that I actually agreed to date you.”

Almost immediately, Lance quieted down. He leaned back to let Keith see his soft smile and reached out to brush some of the fringe out of his eyes. Keith’s breath caught at the look of complete and utter adoration on his face.

“Yeah,” Lance breathed, “neither can I.”

“...nerd.”

“You like me.”

“I do,” Keith said. All of a sudden, a new thought popped into his head. Smirking, he raised an eyebrow at Lance. “This totally means that I won though.”

“Huh?”

“The competition with the calendars. We got together because of me, it’s definitely my win.”

“ _You-_ that doesn’t even count anymore! The deadline for the calendar was December 1st, you are way too late!”

“I finished it just in time, you can go ask Allura.”

“But you didn’t show me the finished product until yesterday, your argument is invalid!”

“Jesus Christ,” Pidge cut in, massaging her temples. “Does that even _matter_ still?”

Lance and Keith exchanged a look, both of their eyebrows raised. Then they started grinning at once - it was always fun to annoy their friends.

“Definitely,” they replied in unison.

 

**Author's Note:**

> ~~do not ask me why I decided to write a Christmas fic in March idk how my brain works~~
> 
> Um, yeah, so, I did promise some light angst this chapter... and I lowkey feel bad for not giving Keith a sappy advent calendar like Lance got. The poor boy. Lance will make it up to him though. I bet the calendar thing becomes a new tradition in their household :P
> 
> That's it, then! Thanks for reading this far. Feel free to visit me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ka_sape) ~~i'm still trying to figure out how to really use that so it's pretty empty~~ or [tumblr](http://keiths-stupid-mullet.tumblr.com/), I love talking to new people^^


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